Seville part 2 - the Cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See (the Seville Cathedral) continues the pattern of Spanish obsession with all things Mary (the virgin). And they REALLY do it right in Seville. The Seville Cathedral is the largest cathedral in the world, as well as the third largest church and is absolutely magnificent!

The bell tower, called the Giralda, was converted from the Muslim mosque that was on the site, and was finished in 1198.
We got to go up in the bell tower, which was exciting because there were fantastic views all around, as well as some cool bells. And we didn't have to climb stairs to get there - we just went around and around the perimeter of the tower gradually getting higher, and there were small interior rooms with assorted relics (like VERY old vestments - that is pieces of them - hundreds of years old) to break things up, and outside windows to get different perspectives from.  Pretty cool.




The rest of the cathedral was built between 1402 and 1506 - over a hundred years, and before our country even got its start. It is amazingly huge, with very high ceilings and 80 chapels. Part of it is closed off to the tourists (with "please be quiet" signs) that are still used for worship services.

This picture shows the huge vaulted ceilings and I believe one of the alters with lots of art work (there were many altars and lots of art work and other treasures). The beautiful stained glass windows you can see made colorful light patterns on the wall, but the pictures I took that showed them weren't all that great. Ah well. Trust me, it was beautiful!










This is another alter (to the right), which consists of carved scenes from the life of Christ. It was the lifetime work of one man,  Pierre Dancart.







These life-sized statues carry a coffin with the actual remains of Christopher Colombus (his "tomb"). Spain is pretty proud of the fact that they financed the explorer that "discovered" the Americas.







The cathedral had at least two (that I could see) huge organs decorated with elaborate carvings. They were among my favorites there.









There was also a group of rooms containing various "treasures", like this cool piece of art (I can't remember what it was exactly)












And this "picture" of Mary and the Savior carved out of ivory. It was pretty good sized, too (maybe a foot and a half by two feet).

The  Sala Capitular (Renaissance Vault) - a beautiful ceiling. Much of my time in Seville was spent looking up!











There were courtyards also - this one planted with trees that were irrigated using waterways cut out of the paving stones - a form of flood irrigation I guess. And finally - a demonstration in support of schools we hit on the way out. Ah, Spain!




It is a Land of many contrasts, and much beauty.  I am so blessed to be here!
(An olive grove we saw on the way home.)

Seville part 1 - the Alcazar

Last Thursday Elder Castillo, Hermana Castillo, and her two sisters and mother took me to Seville where we saw the Alcazar  and the Sevilla Cathedral. I took WAY to many pictures to do them both in one blog, so I'm starting with the Alcazar.

The Alcazar was the palace of many down through the centuries, from the Moores (in the 1100's) to the Christians (who built a new castle on the Moorish site in 1364 and added on to it over the centuries).  It's pretty wild being in something that old when your own country is less than 250 years old! And it's still in use - the royal family live in the upper three levels when they are in town.  It is built around a number of patios, which are quite stunning. The one to the left is called the "Courtyard of the Maidens" and has a beautiful reflecting pond and gardens. The whole palace had a LOT of arches, too.

It also had a lot of very large doorways, some of which had little doors built into the very large doors that accompanied them. To the right is a very elaborately carved wooden door that I thought was pretty neat.










To the left is the Hall of the Ambassadors, which was used for ceremonial events. It had really cool horse-shoe arch ways that you can see, exquisite tile work,

and a magnificent dome ceiling. This was created in 1389 in the Moorish style out of interlaced wood. I spent a lot of my time looking up as all of the ceilings were very cool.









Some interesting tile work with both the symbol of Castile (the castle, for Isabella), and Aragon (the lion, for Ferdinand), who financed Colombus' grand voyage.



More cool tile work both floor and wall, and another courtyard with multiple levels. The design work was unbelievably intricate and continually shifted my eyes from one pattern to another. VERY interesting.





The grounds were HUGE and included fountains (one 16th century), gardens, maze-hedges, and other neat stuff.

This was a REALLY cool feature - it's a water organ and played music by using a waterfall (you could hear it if you got up close) as a source of air to play a pipe organ.



This shows not only a beautiful fountain and other features, but also the ingenious irrigation system that let them water everything (anciently and today) so they didn't have to haul water to all the trees etc. Beautiful gardens!




All in all I REALLY enjoyed my trip to Sevilla, but the very best part was spending time with my great friends, the Castillos, and Hermana Castillo's sisters and mother. What great people and what a great family!  Although Spain is awesome, it's not the place, it's the people that I enjoy most of all. Thanks for including me!

La Plaza de Toros y la Doma Vaquera

Like I promised, here are pictures of the caballos and Spanish riders we got to see demonstrate their skills at the Paza de Toros (Bull fighting ring). They don't do bull fights much any more, but the demonstration these horses put on was absolutely fabulous!  I went with my friends, Elder and Hermana Castillo,  and we went into it not being quite sure what we were in for. We were totally delighted with what we found. The moves were similar to some of what we got to see in Jerez at the Royal Riding School, but we got to be closer and this time we got to take pictures!  So prepare to be inundated :)

One rider worked with a pole, circling around, changing direction under the pole, and here, circling around the pole with it just laid on the rider's shoulder.

The horses performed to music and a
running commentary mostly
incomprehensible to me, but were beautiful
and elegant, as were the riders.
They did many changes of leads,
controlled , high-stepping trots (including
 in place), diagonal lines, tight circles,
sudden stops and starts, and etc

This boy was 5 or 6 and performed with his father and alone. He did many of the moves the older riders did. Very cool!

A Favorite of mine - he was very powerful and controlled, and had a beautiful silver coat that glistened.  He would turn in circles with first his hind end stationary, and then his front end. Impressive!

Another beautifully colored horse that did lots of quick stops
and backing in his routine.

This horse worked taking his cues from just the
reins and a quirt. He was very excitable, but
did an awesome job!

                                 
           

                                                                                                                                                                                      This elegant lady did most of the same moves using a side-saddle! Very impressive.

Part of the "grand finale"

Horses, Horses, and More Horses. Oh, and a few Trajes Gitana (dresses) and suits too!

One thing about the Spanish - they do love their horses!  The week before last was Fuengirola's "Faria", which is a week-long celebration during which there were not only the usual carriage horses on the streets, but also random people riding around in their Spanish suits and dresses.

"Public Parking"

It was pretty cool occasionally coming upon a group of riders arrayed in front of a small restaurant refreshing themselves with drinks (still on horseback). They had a parade at the beginning of the week, with the traditional parading of the huge (and heavy) Virgin Mary statue and lots of horses and carriages. At the end of the week all the riders and carriages gathered at the Faria grounds, and paraded around the grounds, and even into the streets nearby (there were a LOT of them), showing off their traditional (and beautiful) Spanish dress.

Speaking of dresses, a month or so ago I went to a Trajes Gitana (Flamingo dress) fashion show where they had a brief Flamingo demonstration before-hand that was pretty cool. I was way behind a bunch of people, so couldn't see the fashion show too well, and the pictures were taken with the camera way above my head, but it was still fun.

But for the Faria just about everyone (young and old and everywhere in between) wore their traditional finery, and many brought their horses, which they would ride down the street amongst all the cars, buses, and scooters as just part of the traffic. You could tell everyone was having a great time!

Also, the Saturday before this they had a show at the Fuen bull fighting ring that I went to with my friends the Castillos. We knew it had something to do with horses (it was called "Doma Vaquera"), but we didn't know quite what to expect. It turned out to be a horsemanship show/demonstration that was absolutely fabulous!  Watching the horses and riders "dance" together was very moving to me, and I'll write more about that later, as I have a TON of pictures I'd like to share :)

A few more random thoughts - I have now been on my mission for six months - hard to believe!  I'm progressing with learning how to speak Spanish, and am working on it pretty hard, although silly things like referrals and the office tend to get in the way (seriously - I am still really enjoying working with the missionaries with the referrals, and it has been very gratifying to know I have contributed a small part in bringing some of the great people of Spain to the joy that can be found in the true gospel of Jesus Christ). I really don't think I'm speaking much better than I did 3 or 4 months ago, but I'm starting to get the hang of all the tenses and different endings and exceptions that I have been struggling with and hope to actually be able to use that knowledge in my speaking before too long.

At Zone Conference with the Hermanas and Hermana Wiscomb (one of our awesome Sr. Missionaries)

 I'm continually depending on God for help with all the different things I do here as I am stretched way beyond my comfort zone in quite a few ways. Communicating (kind of) in Spanish,esp. calling and talking on the phone (not my favorite activity, esp. when I can't understand all or sometimes even much of what is being said) is one challenge. I have also been teaching adults (Gospel Doctrine class - sometimes it turns out pretty well, other times, not so much. The ones that are the best are the ones I  prepare hard, but then turn it over to God. My own ideas?  Well....), playing piano in Sacrament Meeting (even the "easy hymns" can be a struggle for me, esp. in front of people. Today we had someone from the States that could play again, which is always a great cause for celebration for me! I will NEVER take the pianist for granted ever again!), cooking, instructing groups of missionaries, and going out with the missionaries on appointments. Okay, that last thing is just a pleasure - I LOVE going out with the missionaries. They are awesome!  :)  Anyway, I keep pretty busy, but also find time for some fun, as you can tell. One of my favorite things is still going for a walk along the beach and spending time just looking at the beautiful sky and water. City life just isn't my thing, and that helps. Through all of it, though, I have felt the hand of God, and it has been much easier than I would have thought possible. Things that are hard have been made light, and even fun, which has been pretty amazing. Once again - I have been so blessed!  Missions are awesome.